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Daryl is a slim built Caucasian man with brown hair and commonly keeps facial hair on his lip and chin. His eyes are blue.

Daryl is often volatile but is still significantly more level-headed and rational than his older brother, Merle Dixon. Though he has been shown to be rather close to his younger brother, Randall Dixon, feeling him to be more like a son than brother.

Despite usually acting distant, Daryl has shown on numerous occasions to be caring, and selfless. He went alone and risked his life in an attempt to find Sophia, and immediately took initiative to go back and find Andrea, when she got separated from the group.

During that search, he managed to find Caroline Horn rather than Andrea. An experienced tracker and hunter, he is deadly accurate with his Horton Scount HD 125. He is also highly skilled with various firearms and knives. He has taken a prominent role in safeguarding the members of his group.

Although he is shown to be the lone wolf of the group early on in the series, he has started to integrate himself more with everyone, particularly in his relationship with Randall and his growing relationship with Liliana.

Hunting and Tracking: Daryl is an expert hunter, with knowledge in tracking as seen when they are searching for Sophia. He was able to track fading footprints and had amazing accuracy. He has also proven to be an apt tracker in the dark, where all he needed was a flashlight.

Resourcefulness: He is also very resourceful and appears to be willing to use anything at his disposal to survive. For example, he ate a raw squirrel to appease his hunger while he struggled to escape from the ravine he fell into. He also fashioned a tourniquet out of his clothing to help support the bolt that had pierced his abdominal area, and when being attacked by two zombies he efficiently removed the bolt piercing his side and used it to dispatch one of the attacking walkers. He also created more bolts from wood to replace the lost ones.

Merle Dixon was born to a young woman who was nowhere near ready for motherhood. The girl was a young sixteen year old that was conned into the relationship by Merle's father, Wayne Dixon. To back up and explain this relationship would be unnecessary as the behavior of the father continued on through the raising of their children. The woman's name was Virginia Cooper, hailing from Louisiana, she left her family to continue her relationship with the man. Her pregnancy with Merle was not a pleasant one as she did not plan on becoming pregnant in the first place. Wayne often would bring women into his bed knowing full well that his new wife was there as well, he wanted very little to do with her as she was becoming a 'fat pig' with his child. The very same day that Merle was to be born, Virginia was punched in the stomach by her abusive and alcoholic husband.

As the doctors pulled the newborn from her body, it was discovered that Merle was born with a nasty bruise on his face from his father's abusive ways. Even though the violent ways of her husband was obvious, she did not allow herself to file any type of complaint against him, much to the dislike of the police force. Wayne's abusive ways continued on through Merle's infancy, the women being brought in stopped but the man moved on to more offensive ways through drugs and alcohol. He often complained about Merle's crying and would burn Virginia's arm until she took care of him. She began to think of ways to escape until she became pregnant again, another boy for an abusive man to teach. By this time Merle was around seven years old and in school.

Wayne accused Virginia of cheating on him after hearing about the second child and became very angry with her, almost causing her to have a miscarriage. Around four months, she began smoking heavily and got herself wrapped up in betting. It was a high for her that was better than having taken drugs or anything Wayne brought home. When she was in her seventh month, she began drinking alcohol in the hope that the baby would die. Because of her heavy drinking, Daryl was born earlier than intended and wasn't expected to survive. Virginia barely visited him in the hospital until it was time to pick him up and took him home. The woman was more often than not passed out and Merle was there to take care of Daryl after he came home from school. This became easier for the older brother after Daryl was two and three years old since at that point, Merle believed that his younger brother would be able to take care of himself.

Wayne, the father to both boys, never really cared much for Daryl and would often amuse himself by burning the child's skin with cigarettes or letting him play with broken glass. As he became older, the glass became instruments of punishment, creating numerous scars on his body. When Daryl was three, his mother became pregnant for the last time. By this point, Virginia was high or drunk all the time and there was very little that doctors or anyone else could do to help. Once Randall was born, he was almost immediately shoved off to Daryl and Merle, their parents wanting little to nothing to do with any of the children at this point. The two boys fed, diapered and clothed the baby with little to no help.

Merle, at thirteen, went to Juvenile Hall for the first time for breaking and entering, leaving a seven year old Daryl to look after four year old Randall. While they were playing after school, they noticed other children on their bikes heading away from police officers coming toward them. Sirens as well as their lights filled the air as the two boys made their way home only to find it burning. They learned later on that their mother had fallen asleep with a cigarette in her mouth after going on a drinking binge. Wayne, their father, had been out with a few girlfriends when it happened and took the boys to a new home where they were able to help themselves better. The trailer outside of Atlanta wasn't the best place but they found that it was rather cozy. Daryl and Randall worked through high school to help support themselves, getting work permits at fifteen for both of them. It was around that time that Daryl began doing drugs himself, mostly pot and mushrooms. He was caught once at school and nearly expelled but was only suspended for ten days and forced to do extra in school. Daryl continued to look after his younger brother until Merle came back out of juvie. Merle had gone into the military almost immediately just to keep from having to go home. He was discharged a year later and came home to Daryl and Randall. He started going into drugs more heavily than he had before and relied on Daryl to give him money for it.

Not wanting Randall to have to pay for it, Daryl began supporting Merle's drug habit. His vocational school skill in mechanics helped Daryl to at least have a bit of money since he worked for a motorcycle garage in Atlanta. He didn't want Randall to have to deal with their brothers money hungry ways. It was around that time that Wayne died from a drunk driving accident. None of the brothers really felt it as a loss.